Glossary of Terms - m

Click on a letter to jump to another subsection or click on "all" for the entire document.

Macrovascular Disease - Large Vessel Disease: Atherosclerosis involving the coronary, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vessels. Occurs at an earlier age and with greater frequency in those with diabetes than it does in nondiabetic individuals.
Magnesium (Mg): An essential element which influences many enzymes needed to produce cellular energy and nerve and muscle message transmission. It affects nervous, muscular and cardiovascular systems. Magnesium is found mainly in bone, also in muscle and other tissues: deficiency can lead to neuromuscular and central nervous system irritability, muscle twitches and weakness. Magnesium excess has been found to result in mental depression and cardiac arrest.
Malignant tumor: A tumor which is cancerous.
Mammogram: A low voltage X-ray photograph of the breast. It allows early detection of malignant or benign tumors and other microcalcification-containing lesions.
Metastasis: The spread of disease from one part of the body to another.
Microvascular Disease - Small Vessel Disease: A group of disorders related to disease of small blood vessels particularly retinopathy and nephropathy characteristic of diabetes mellitus.
Monoclonal antibodies: Specific antibodies derived from a single (mono) clone of plasma cells. It may be produced in large quantities, usually for use against a specific antigen, for diagnostic and possibly therapeutic use.